Songs About Jane
| last album picture = | next album picture = Maroon 5 - It Won't Be Soon Before Long.jpg | last album = | album = Songs About Jane | next album = It Won't Be Soon Before Long | last release = | album release = 2002 | next release = 2007 }} Songs About Jane is the official debut studio album by American pop rock band Maroon 5, released on June 25, 2002 by Octone and J Records. The album became a sleeper hit with help of five singles that attained chart success, including the Billboard hit "Harder to Breathe" and international hits "This Love" and "She Will Be Loved." The album was re-released on October 14, 2003 and at the end of 2004, the album reached the top 10 of the US Billboard 200 chart. Songs About Jane had sold nearly 2.7 million copies by the end of 2004, and over 5 million copies in the U.S. by April 2014. Background All but one member of the band had been members of a previous Los Angeles band called Kara's Flowers which released an album called The Fourth World in mid-1997 on Reprise Records with little success. Kara's Flowers left Reprise Records in 1998 and with the addition of guitarist James Valentine became Maroon 5. The band played show case gigs in New York City and Los Angeles. Singer and guitarist Adam Levine credited the interim with influencing the band's new style in an interview with VH1. "During the time between our record deals, I spent a lot of time in New York where I was exposed to an urban and hip-hop culture in a way that had never happened to me in L.A. It turned me on to an entirely new genre of music which has had a profound impact on my song writing." The band signed with Octone Records, a New York independent label with distribution through BMG and an artist development deal with Clive Davis' J Records. The band recorded Songs About Jane at Rumbo Recorders in Los Angeles with producer Matt Wallace, who had also produced with Train, Faith No More, and O.A.R.. Production was handled primarily by Wallace, with Mark Endert mixing with additional production for "This Love". All the songs on the album were either written or co-written by Levine while he was living in New York. Many of the lyrics for the album are inspired by Levine's relationship with his ex-girlfriend, Jane. Levine confirmed this, saying there was at least one line in every song about her. Release and reception The album has been released with the Copy Control protection system in some regions. After the release of the album in mid-2002, the band toured with Michelle Branch and Nikka Costa. They also toured with Matchbox Twenty and Sugar Ray during some of their shows in 2003. In March 2004, the album had reached the top 20 of the Billboard 200, and had reached the top 10 by the end of the year. Songs About Jane also eventually topped the UK and Australian album charts. Songs About Jane was the seventh best-selling album of 2004 in the U.S., with about 2.7 million copies sold. In Australia, the album did not chart on the End of Year Charts until 2004, where it reached No. 6. The album reached its 5 million sales mark in the United States in April 2014. The album was generally well received by music critics. Christian Hoard of Rolling Stone praised the album for its "vaguely funky white-soul stylings, tunefulness and vocals" and mentioned "Must Get Out" and "This Love" as the album's standout tracks. AllMusic's MacKenzie Wilson called the album an "impressive rebirth" from Kara's Flowers' "indie outfit", stating: "Songs About Jane is love-drunk on what makes Maroon 5 tick as a band ... they've got grit and a sexy strut, personally and musically." Caroline Sullivan of The Guardian commented that the album "isn't as useless as one would hope ... Songs About Jane is pitched at the Busted market, for which their guitar-mashing and surging harmonies eminently qualify them." PopMatters's Jason Thompson, however, panned the album, criticizing Levine's likeness to Jay Kay of Jamiroquai. Calling the album "limp at best," he further added: "There's simply nothing here to get excited about. And what about that soul that these guys are boasting about, anyway?" Singles Maroon 5 - Harder to Breathe.png|link=Harder to Breathe Maroon 5 - This Love.png|link=This Love Maroon 5 - She Will Be Loved.png|link=She Will Be Loved Maroon 5 - Sunday Morning.png|link=Sunday Morning Maroon 5 - Must Get Out.jpg|link=Must Get Out The first single "Harder to Breathe," released a month after the album, slowly started to pick up airplay which helped spur sales of the album. "Harder to Breathe" also made the top 20 on the Billboard Hot 100 singles charts and the singles charts in the United Kingdom, Australia and New Zealand. The second single from the album is "This Love." The song won the band their first Grammy Award, Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals and the 2006 Grammy Awards. In March 2004, two years after being released, the song reached the top 10 of the Australian and United States singles charts, as of March 2004. The music video had to be edited to avoid being banned from MTV. "She Will Be Loved," the third single from the album, also reached similar chart success, topping the Australian and Belgian charts and peaking at No. 5 in the United States. "Sunday Morning" was released as the fourth single from the album. It did not reach the chart success of the previous singles but nevertheless garnered positive reviews from critics. It was reported that this single was what got the band signed to Octone Records, with its executive Ben Berkman calling it "genius." The fifth and final release from the album "Must Get Out." The single failed to chart in the US, and just made the Top 30 in the United Kingdom, Ireland and New Zealand. Track listing All songs written and composed by Adam Levine and Jesse Carmichael, except where noted. Notes * The version of "She Will Be Loved" on disc 1 of the 10th Anniversary Edition is the radio mix that is used in the music video. * The 10th Anniversary Edition of the album was released with the band's 2012 album ''Overexposed'''' and was distributed by Universal Music. Other songs * The studio version of "Woman" never appeared on an edition of ''Songs About Jane despite the demo being released on the 10th Anniversary Edition. It was, however, later released on the Spider Man 2 soundtrack. * A live performance of "Wasted Years," a song originally recorded for Songs About Jane, surfaced and was speculated to be included on later editions of the album. Although it was not, it was later re-worked and included as a bonus track on the band's 2012 album Overexposed. * Remastered versions of "Take What You Want" and "That's Not Enough", both songs recorded by the band when they were Kara's Flowers, surfaced online and were also speculated to be included on later editions of the album, however, they never were. "Don't Look Back in Anger" and "Hello," both live covers of Oasis songs, were also speculated to be released with a later edition of the album. Neither were, but a live performance of "Hello" was included on ''Live – Friday the 13th'', the band's second live album and first live DVD/CD release. Personnel Maroon 5 * Adam Levine – vocals, guitar * Jesse Carmichael – keyboards, backing vocals * Mickey Madden – bass guitar * Ryan Dusick – drums, backing vocals * James Valentine – guitar Additional personnel * Cey Adams – art direction * Michael Barbiero – mixing * Mark Endert – producer, mixing * Gregg Gordon – illustrations * Mike Landolt – engineer * Chris McCann – photography * Bobby Carmichael - photography * Posie Muliadi – assistant engineer * Rashida Jones - backing vocals ("Tangled", "Secret" and "Not Coming Home") * Mystic - backing vocals * Mark K. Schoenecker - horns * Matt Wallace – producer, mixing, percussion * Danny Wright – assistant engineer * Alan Yoshida – mastering * Leon Zervos – mastering * Neil Zlozower – photography Category:Albums Category:Studio albums